Taunt flipping partner leading empty life (6)

I believe the answer is:

heckle

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'taunt' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'flipping partner leading empty life' is the wordplay.
'flipping partner' becomes 'heck' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'leading' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'empty' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'life' with its middle removed is 'le'.
'heck'+'le'='HECKLE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for heckle that I've seen before include "Loudly interrupt a public meeting" , "bait?" , "rudely interrupt" , "Shout down (a politician)" , "Noisily interrupt (a speaker)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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